The Hasselblad V-System master guide: an overview

Welcome to the Hasselblad V-System Master Guide, a collection of in-depth articles and reviews intended to be an exhaustive resource for real, user-verified data on this classic film camera system.

To the uninitiated, the V-System is a black box; totally impenetrable. If you’re coming to it for the first time and think you have everything nailed down, I’m here to tell you that you are likely wrong, very wrong….and that’s where this collection of articles comes in.

This guide started off as a short review of the Hasselblad 2000 FCW, a little-known focal plane shutter version of the classic Swedish box. As the review ballooned to incorporate compatibility, lens versions and camera history, it became clear that a more detailed outline was needed to do the intricacies of the camera and wider platform justice. Thus, this guide was born.

The purpose of this guide is to:

Help shed some light on the system for the enjoyment of understanding itself.

Assist prospective buyers to familiarise themselves with their options and select the camera body(ies), lenses and film magazines that are most suited to their needs.

Bust a few myths and to provide an insight into the cameras from my perspective as a user.

In the guide you will find:

Historical context on the V-System.

Camera body features and functionality across the entire system.

Lens system data – usage and technical information across the range.

Accessory, focus screen and viewfinder details.

The clarification of myths and old wives’ tales.

…and much more far too lengthy to reasonably detail here.

Before we get stuck in, I have a question for you: when was the V-System not the V-System?

Answer: any time before September 2002.

2002 saw the release of Hasselblad’s new native 6×4.5 format H-System cameras and the existing cameras were retroactively rebranded as the V-System in order to create a distinction between these wholly incompatible systems. Prior to that, the entire range from 1948-2002 was called simply, “The Hasselblad System”.

The H-System is still being manufactured in 2018 and continues the hybrid film/digital approach started with the first Hasselblad digital magazine in 1992. That said, the H-System is not what one would call a “pure” Hasselblad. Like the Xpan/Xpan 2 wide format 35mm rangefinders, H-System cameras and lenses are manufactured by Fuji and their subsidiaries; and if you search for “Fuji GX645”, you’ll find a Japan-only, Fuji-branded version of the H1 at a fraction of the Hasselblad price. The system deserves a guide in it’s own right but for the purposes of this Master Guide, I won’t be touching on it, or the newer X-System, aside from the occasional nod to compatibility or incompatibility.

It might look like a lot but that’s only because it is. Still, for this section of the guide I’ll be starting slowly with accessibility in mind. Beginning below, I cover a bit of Hasselblad history before jumping into a deep outline of the V-System bodies, lenses, film magazines and accessories.

Each of these sections will be covered in full in the associated articles that form this guide.

What is the Hasselblad V-System?

The V-System comprises of several generations and models of (on the whole) fully manual medium format cameras. These all natively take photographs on medium format roll film (120/220) in 6x6cm square format.

The system supports a wide range of lenses from Zeiss, Kodak Schneider and (to a degree) Rodenstock. They cover focal lengths from a 30mm fisheye to a 500mm telephoto.

In between, you have the standard medium format offerings including dedicated macro, zoom and some highly specialist photography lenses.

Compatible digital backs are available, with the first (4 megapixel) version released by Leaf in 1992. At the time of writing the most current iteration is the 50MP Hasselblad CFV-50c, which was released in 2014 and uses a 48.8×32.9mm sensor (very close to a 6×4.5 aspect ratio).

Hasselblad V-System series overview

The V-system is subdivided into a six distinct series and sub-series as follows:

A civilian camera based on Hasselblad’s prototype ROSSEX (left), the Series One 1600F was something completely new for the company: modular, precisely engineered, beautifully designed and made for the general public – all based on a recovered World War II German military camera.

Even during wartime, Hasselblad had been using lenses from a number of German lens manufacturers, Meyer, Schneider and Zeiss for their military cameras but for the Series One, they decided to call on one of their oldest partners for assistance: Eastman Kodak.

George Eastman and Arvid Viktor Hasselblad – founder of Hasselblad F.W.’s photographic division and grandfather of Victor Hasselblad – originally met in 1887 whilst Arvid Viktor was honeymooning in Europe. At the time of the 1600F’s release, the companies had been working together for decades, with Hasselblad acting as the sole Kodak distributor in Sweden and offering a number of additional photographic development services. When it came to building the standard lenses for the new 1600F, Victor Hasselblad called on Kodak to help and through their partnership, the camera was released in New York in 1948 with the stunning Kodak Ektar 80mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/3.5 lenses.

The story goes that the use of Kodak lenses for the initial Series One line-up was in recognition of the long-standing relationship between the two companies but my gut tells me it was a little more complicated than that.

Zeiss and the other German lens manufacturers Hasselblad had previously been employing had seen their infrastructure split-up or destroyed following World War II and anti-German sentiment was still high in Allied countries at the time of the Series One 1600F’s release.

Regardless of their neutral status, a Swedish company launching a camera in the US market with a German lens was likely something Hasselblad was not willing to take a risk on and given the long-standing relationship, it made sense to call on Kodak for their lens expertise.

Hasselblad 1600F Advert

It’s ancient history that both Zeiss and Schneider later provided lenses to Hasselblad but Eastman Kodak’s support was invaluable in helping them break the important US market.

In 1950 the Series One 1600F was replaced with an improved and upgraded Series Two 1600F. The new 1600F was itself replaced two years later in 1952 by the Series Two 1000F. Although the updated models benefited from revised and improved shutter systems, the cameras remained comparatively fragile and 1957, just nine years after the original 1600F’s release, the Series Two was discontinued in favour of Hasselblad’s new beau: the 500C.

This new 500 Series wasn’t a completely fresh take on its predecessors though. The camera retained its lines and compatibility with the Series One/Two finders and film magazines but lost its focal plane shutter and was upgraded with a new lens mount. Lenses for the new mount were now being produced by Zeiss not Kodak, and came with in-lens shutters supplied by Compur.

Although the system now had a slower top shutter speed of 1/500 second, it offered full flash sync across the entire range and if you were to put the Series One/Two and 500C in silhouette next to each other you’d be forgiven for mistaking one for the other.

Although those troublesome focal plane shutters were gone, Hasselblad wasn’t done with them just yet. A source of great joy and frustration for both the company and its customers, the focal plane shutter and associated mechanisms of the 1600F and 1000F cameras laid the groundwork for the 2000 Series focal plane shutter cameras, which were released 20 years later in 1977, and the 200 Series released nearly 20 years after that in 1994.

The curtain finally closed on the V-System in late 2013 when the Hasselblad 503CW – the last remaining V-System camera – was unceremoniously discontinued. After 55 years in production, the only remaining connection the company had to the system that gave it global recognition was a digital film back and a few lens adapters. To all intents and purposes, the company had become a rebrander of OEM cameras and accessories and was left with zero dedicated manufacturing capability of its own.

Take a look at Hasselblad.com today and you’ll be lucky to find more than a few paragraphs of attention given to the V-System. Considering the importance the system had in establishing the company’s reputation it is a sad virtual hand-washing.

No discussion about Hasselblad’s history would be complete without even the smallest reference to the use of their cameras and lenses by NASA for their space program, so here it is, a small reference. Trust me when I say that I will be dealing with this rather large chunk of Hasselblad history in a dedicated article for this collection.

Hasselblad V-system timeline

Whilst not technically V-System cameras, I have included Series One and Series Two Hasselblad cameras in the tables below for completeness. Without them, the V-System would not exist. You’ll also find some information about the specialist FlexBody and ArcBody cameras.

As with any detail in this and other articles in the collection, if you see anything amiss, or would like to add/edit something, just drop me a line in the comments below.

You’ll likely be able to discern the meanings of some of the designations used in the camera names above. For reference, I’ve provided a complete listing of what these mean in the following section.

Hasselblad V-system family nomenclature

Looking at the table in the previous section, it’s apparent that Hasselblad V-System has a dizzying array of camera nomenclature and designations. Some may seem arbitrary or just downright puzzling but they all have meaning.

The following three sub-sections outline the main terminology used in describing the individual series in the V-System family, as well as the camera designations themselves.

Later in this document, I’ll also be talking about the lens and film magazine types and their designations.

*1 – Whilst not technically V-system cameras, the Series One and Series Two Hasselblads represent the root of the system, so are represented here for completeness.

Hasselblad V-system camera body designations

Designations used for each camera are provided below alphabetically and grouped by series. The body designations are generic at best but can be used to provide a basic identification of the features present within each version.

With the exception of the SW/SWx models, every other V-System camera body can accept different lenses. The SW/SWx cameras were sold as sealed units with dedicated lenses not available elsewhere. Only the film magazines were interchangeable.

Hasselblad V-Mount lens system

The Hasselblad V-System’s lens system (V-Mount) is comprised of six generations of lenses. Each lens in the system has a Flange Focal Distance (the distance from the lens’ mount to the film plane) of 74.90mm.

All but two V-Mount lenses were produced by Zeiss for Hasselblad. These were zoom lenses and were created by Schneider. They were based on the same design used by the Rollei SLX and 6000 cameras.

For the purposes of this document, I have not included lenses used by the ArcBody camera in the table below. These are technically large format lenses adapted by Rodenstock for this specialist camera body.

Lens adaptations and modifications

500 Series cameras lack a focal plane shutter, which means modifying lenses from other systems is impractical for many Hasselblad owners but it there is a small and growing “mod” community of Hasselblad 200/2000 users (including me).

Pentax 67 modified to Hasselblad V Mount – Litzst on eBay

These rather strange but wonderful individuals adapt Pentacon Six, Hasselblad 1000F/1600F and large format lenses for use with their camera bodies.

It is perfectly possible to machine a dedicated adapter to mount and use Series One/Two lenses on 2000/200 series cameras. With their Flange Focal Distance of 82.10mm, the most common route to modify these lenses is by using a modified 16mm macro extension tube.

On the subject of adaptation, it should be noted that all first-party Hasselblad lenses can be very easily adapted to other medium format and all 35mm camera mounts – as well as for specific large format applications.

The main exception to that rule (agreed upon by machinists in the know) are lenses from the Pentax 67 system. Still, workarounds exist where the 67’s mount itself is modified to accept V-System lenses. Check out the wonderful abomination from South Korea’s Litzst on eBay on the left.

Lens families/designations

Let’s take a quick look at the various Hasselblad lens families/designations produced for the V-System.

Designation

Manufacture dates

Overview

C

1959-1974

Compur lens (single coated).

C T*

1974-1979

Compur lens (multicoated).

F

1977-1991

Focal plane shutter support.

CF

1980-1989

Prontor lens. Focal plane shutter support.

CF FLE

1990-1998

Prontor lens. Focal plane shutter support. Floating Lens Element.

CF IHI

1990-1998?

With and without Prontor lens.

FE

1994-1998

Focal plane shutter support. Electronic databus.

CB

1996-2006

Prontor lens. Basic lens type.

CFi

1998-2013

Prontor lens. Focal plane shutter support. Improved design.

CFE

1997-2006

Prontor lens. Focal plane shutter support. Electronic databus.

ZV

2008-2013

Prontor lens. Focal plane shutter support.

NOTE: All lenses which followed 1974’s “C T*” lenses include this new coating. A distinction has been made above only to recognise a mid-production update.

General lens compatibility

Lenses which include a “C” designation (C, CB, CF, CF FLE, CFi, CFE) can be used on 500 Series cameras, along with the first-party Zeiss ZV “Classic” lenses.

All Hasselblad V-Mount lenses can be used on all Hasselblad 2000 and 200 Series cameras.

With the exception of the 135mm Macro-Planar, all V-System lenses include dedicated aperture and focus rings, aperture stop-down levers and PC-sync flash ports. The 135mm lens is designed to be used with a dedicated bellows extension for focusing and thus has no focus ring.

CFE lenses include a databus connection to pass exposure information to the camera body and can be used in a similar manner with 200 series bodies and the 503CX and CXi bodies. Other than the electrical contacts, they are identical in every way to the CFi models.

When the CF lenses were released, the shutter was replaced by a Prontor type. Still, the “C” designation stood.

Specific lens compatibility

F designated lenses were designed specifically for 2000 Series cameras and do not include a shutter. They typically focus closer and benefit from wider maximum apertures than other generations of lenses. They can also be used on 200 series cameras.

FE designated lenses were designed to be used with 200 Series cameras but can also be used with 2000 Series bodies. As with the F lenses, FE lenses have no shutter, focus closer and mostly have wider apertures than their C designated counterparts.

Certain F/FE lenses, such as the Planar 110mm f/2. F/FE are optically distinct from their equivalent C-designated leaf shutter siblings. However, the Planar F 80mm f/2.8 is identical to the Planar CF 80mm f/2.8.

If inclined, one could use an F or FE lens on a 500 series body in bulb mode…but I’ve yet to see anyone try.

Lens identification

You can very quickly tell if a Hasselblad lens is an F/FE or a C/CF/CFi, etc. Check the location of the focus and aperture rings. If the aperture ring is closest to the lens mount then it’s an F/FE lens. If not, it’s a C/CF/CFi, etc., lens.

You’ll see a lot of eBay sellers and even bonafide camera store selling F lenses as FE lenses. You’re best to confirm yourself, as FE lenses command much higher prices. They can be easily distinguished from normal F lenses in two ways:

First, the mount includes four circular gold contacts (the databus connection). These communicate aperture information to 200 Series bodies.

Second, every FE lens features a pair of parallel blue stripes on the lens body. Whilst the stripes could be rubbed off unintentionally, there’s no way the databus connection is going anywhere.

Zeiss T* Coating Mark

From the beginning of 1974 (whilst the C lenses were still in production), all Zeiss lenses made for Hasselblad were given a new and improved coating designated by a “T*” on the front of the lens.

Not all lenses which received this coating were marked so – a case of branding catching up to technology and very unlike today, where the smallest, most meaningless feature is used to try and edge ahead of the competition.

Anyway, you can identify these multi-coated sleepers by the slightly different colour cast on the lens.

For what it’s worth, many people prefer the early lenses for their slightly lower contrast result (especially on black and white film), however with a suitable shade and an eye for the direction of light hitting the lens, they stand up very well against later lenses in nearly all conditions.

Hasselblad film magazines

Hasselblad film magazines come in versions which support 120/200 rollfilm, 70mm film strips, Polaroid Series 80 and 100 film, as well as glass plate and cut film. For this system overview, I will not be covering Polaroid, glass plate and sheet film magazines/backs. These are covered in the film magazine article in this collection.

With a few exceptions, nearly every single Hasselblad film magazine made from 1948 until production ceased is compatible with every Hasselblad V-system body ever made. How’s that for commitment?

There are a few incompatibilities however, the main ones you should be aware of are:

Rollfilm magazine generations

One type of older manual “M” type backs (also known as “C”, “M” or just by their numeric designation).

Three types of “A” type (automatic) film magazines.

Three types of “E” type (electronic) magazines.

The numeric designation on each roll film magazine denotes the number of frames it is able to shoot on a single roll of 120, 220 or 70mm film. The letter denotes the family of magazine. For example:

An A12 designation tells us that it’s from the “Automatic” series and can capture 12 frames (6×6) on a roll of 120 or 220 film.

An E16 designation tells us that it’s an “Electronic” magazine which shoots 16 frames (landscape 6×4.5) on 120 or 220 film.

Each rollfilm magazine is comprised of a shell and insert. Load the film in the insert and then install the insert into the shell. Wind the film on until you reach the first frame and then take the freshly loaded magazine and mount it onto any V-System camera body.

Magazines can be swapped out mid-roll, just slip in the dark slide, release the magazine and swap.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the available V-System roll film magazines:

General purpose Hasselblad film magazines

Designation

Film type

Exposures

Image format

12

120/220*1

12

6x6

A12

120

12

6x6

A24

120/220*2

24

6x6

A16

120

16

6x4.5 - landscape orientation

A32

120/220*2

32

6x4.5 - landscape orientation

*1 – A plug could be purchased to block-out the film window on these magazines and therefore allow the use of 220 film (with a bit of guesswork).

*2 – 120 film can be used in 220 film magazines without modifying the magazine’s gearing. To use an unmodified 220 magazine with 120 film, simply ensure that the start mark on the film is lined up OPPOSITE the red mark on the film insert.

You may need to employ some trial and error. Alternatively, your local camera repair service should be able to help you re-gear your film back to suit. It is also possible to use 220 film in 120 magazines. Shoot 12 frames then wind up the roll and then reinsert to shoot the next 12. The frame spacing might be off slightly but you should still end up with 24 (or 36) useable frames.

Special purpose / limited run Hasselblad film magazines

Designation

Film type

Exposures

Image format

A12V

120

12

6x4.5 - portrait orientation

A16S

120

16

4x4cm - superslide format

A70

70mm

70

6x6

Electronic film magazines

Electronic film backs can be used with all Hasselblad V-System cameras but have some dedicated functionality for use with the 200 series bodies.

Not listed here are the Ex-TCC and Ex-FCC film backs, dedicated for use with the 205TCC and 205FCC cameras and their Zone System metering modes. These film backs will be covered in the dedicated film magazine article for this guide.

Designation

Film type

Exposures

Image format

E12

120

12

6x6

E24

120/220*1

24

6x6

E16

120

16

6x4.5 - landscape orientation

E32

120/220*1

32

6x4.5 - landscape orientation

*1 -120 film can be used in 220 film magazines without modifying the magazine’s gearing. To use an unmodified 220 magazine with 120 film, simply ensure that the start mark on the film is lined up OPPOSITE the red mark on the film insert.

You may need to employ some trial and error. Alternatively, your local camera repair service should be able to help you re-gear your film back to suit. It is also possible to use 220 film in 120 magazines. Shoot 12 frames then wind up the roll and then reinsert to shoot the next 12. The frame spacing might be off slightly but you should still end up with 24 (or 36) useable frames.

Hasselblad Accessories

Like any mature system, Hasselblad has a rich ecosystem of V-System accessories that come in all shapes and sizes. Chances are that if you can think of something that you’d want to use, it was produced at one time or another. So-called “speed finders”, dedicated macro flash attachments, underwater housings and even “blank” lens mounts for you to have a play with.

For the purpose of the dedicated accessory article in this guide, I’ll be breaking out accessories into the following groupings:

It gets hard to categorise everything, as there’s always the risk of becoming too granular. That said, if it’s worth discussing, I will be – yes, that includes the reason why Hasselblad lens hoods and shades are square.

Wrapping up

That’s it for now. It’s tempting to continue but I value my sanity and at nearly four thousand words so far, so should you. This is a living document and if you come back, you’ll likely find that things have been updated and links to new sections added.

Although you should consider it an element of the whole, as opposed to “part two in the series”, the next article in this collection, will take an in-depth look into Hasselblad V-System film magazines and bust a few myths about those damned matching inserts and shells.

Thanks for reading!

~ EMULSIVE

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16 COMMENTS

Very well done. I’m currently immersing myself in Hasselblad after having used a much more affordable Bronica SQ-Ai system for years and this is coming in very handy to parse the nomenclature and lineage of the V system. Looking forward to future additions and revisions. Many thanks!

By gum! This has brought back some memories. I used the V system at work for 15 years. A solid extremely reliable workhorse and it was worked hard. We had 500C’s, 500CM’s, EL’s, SWC’s and many lenses and accessories. You know I hadn’t picked up a Hasselblad for 20 years until recently and it was like riding a bike, remembered how to use it, felt like an old friend. Looking forward to more nostalgia in the following articles.